Memory cafes at the National Comedy Center ignite laughter and connection for dementia patients

JAMESTOWN, N.Y. (AP) — Side by side on a sofa inside the National Comedy Center, Gail and Mario Cirasunda chuckled at a clip from the 1980s sitcom “Family Ties” that was playing on a TV screen. The show’s oldest daughter, Mallory, was introducing her unconventional artist boyfriend Nick to her bewildered television family.

“I think our daughter brought him home once. Maybe two of our daughters!” Gail said with a laugh over coffee and donuts later.

“Five daughters, two sons,” her husband Mario, 85, chimed in. “Sometimes I’d wonder,” he smiled, shaking his head at the memories of the couple's own family antics over their 59-year marriage.

Moments like this are what brought the Cirasundas to the comedy museum in western New York and the memory cafe taking place inside. The monthly events invite people with Alzheimer’s, dementia, or other memory loss, and their caregivers, to spend time at the interactive museum. For visitors like Mario, who has dementia, and his wife, the scenes and artifacts from funny shows and comedians have a way of triggering shared laughs and connection, and, as comedy center staff have found, memories.

Gail, 78, treasures the moments when Mario — who still vividly recalls his childhood route to school and the names of old friends — also recollects experiences from their shared life. A 1965 blind date after Mario got out of the Navy led to seven children, 24 grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, careers and moves. However, memories made over a lifetime together have become increasingly elusive over the past several years, since about the time Mario started to get lost driving and forget whether he likes a particular food.

At a recent memory cafe, the Cirasundas, from suburban Buffalo, and others spent the morning walking through the museum that was inspired by “I Love Lucy” star Lucille Ball in her hometown of Jamestown.

Gail kept a guiding hand on her husband's elbow as they smiled through Johnny Carson bits from “The Tonight Show” in the center's late night studio, browsed standup comic George Carlin's personal notes and comedian Bob Hope artifacts, and laughed out loud at a display of classic comedy props like the banana peel and pie in the face.

During a break in the museum's restaurant, the “Family Ties” video evoked scenes from real life.

“The moments are precious because he might not remember it,” Gail explained, “but when you’re there talking about it, you’re remembering. Five minutes later, it’s gone — but you had that moment.”

The Alzheimer’s Association estimates 7.2 million Americans over the age of 65 are living with Alzheimer’s dementia, and an even higher number of people care for an impacted friend or family member.

Memory cafes have emerged around the world in recent years as a way to connect and support individuals and caregivers, and provide information and resources. Many of the more than 600 cafes regularly running in the U.S. — often meeting in libraries and community centers — bring in speakers and engage participants with physical activity, music and art, all of which are good for the brain, experts say.

The National Comedy Center held its first one earlier this year. It seemed a natural fit after staff heard from patrons about the museum's impact on their loved ones.

Spokesman Gary Hahn sees the center as a kind of time machine, with exhibits memorializing comedy from Vaudeville to viral memes that can transport visitors back, no matter their age. Even before the formal memory cafes began, a visitor told the center's staff that his wife with dementia seldom spoke — but would become more verbal while walking through the museum and laughing alongside him.

“There was a stimulation of the part of the brain, whether it’s because of the nostalgia or the comedy, that had an impact on her,” said Journey Gunderson, the center's executive director.

Shelia Kennison, an author and psychology professor at Oklahoma State University, said humor positively affects physiology in many ways.

“It takes most of your brain to process what’s being said or being shown to you and then to find the humor, and then once that happens, it sets off this cascade of brain activity and physiological changes that affects the whole body," said Kennison, who studies how humor is involved in cognition, memory and overall wellbeing. "So it really is a whole brain workout and a whole body workout when you get that really funny joke that makes you laugh and slap your knee and rock back and forth.”

Laughter has always been important to Gail and Mario Cirasunda, whose children often gave their father Peter Sellers' “Pink Panther” movies as gifts so they could see him laugh.

“Keep a sense of humor in your marriage,” Gail's boss told her before she got married. Even through the challenges, she said, she's followed the advice.

Mario Cirasunda of Orchard Park, N.Y. interacts with one of the museum's touch screen exhibits during a Memory Cafe event at the National Comedy Center Monday, May 5, 2025, in Jamestown, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Mario and Gail Cirasunda, of Orchard Park, N.Y., interact with one of the museum's touch screen exhibits during a Memory Cafe event at the National Comedy Center Monday, May 5, 2025, in Jamestown, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Mario and Gail Cirasunda, of Orchard Park, N.Y., interact with one of the museum's touch screen exhibits during a Memory Cafe event at the National Comedy Center Monday, May 5, 2025, in Jamestown, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Mario and Gail Cirasunda, of Orchard Park, N.Y., look at exhibits from past and current comedy stars on display during a Memory Cafe event at the National Comedy Center Monday, May 5, 2025, in Jamestown, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

Mario and Gail Cirasunda, of Orchard Park, N.Y., share a kiss on a bench following a Memory Cafe event at the National Comedy Center Monday, May 5, 2025, in Jamestown, N.Y. (AP Photo/Jeffrey T. Barnes)

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Lamar Jackson thought it was over. That the Baltimore Ravens' unwieldy season would end up in a familiar spot: the playoffs.

Then, rookie kicker Tyler Loop's potential game-winning field goal from 44 yards out drifted a little right. And then a little further right. And then a little further right still.

By the time it fluttered well wide of the goalposts, the playoffs were gone. So was Jackson's certainty after a 26-24 loss to Pittsburgh on Sunday night sent the Ravens into what could be a turbulent offseason.

“I'm definitely stunned, man,” Jackson said. “I thought we had it in the bag. ... I don't know what else we can do.”

Jackson, who never really seemed fully healthy during his eighth season as he battled one thing after another, did his part. The two-time NFL MVP passed for 238 yards and three touchdowns, including two long connections with Zay Flowers in the fourth quarter that put the Ravens (8-9) in front.

It just wasn't enough. Baltimore's defense, which played most of the second half without star safety Kyle Hamilton after Hamilton entered the concussion protocol, wilted against 42-year-old Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Rodgers passed for a season-high 294 yards, including a 26-yard flip to a wide-open Calvin Austin with 55 seconds to go after a defender slipped, symbolic of a season in which Baltimore's defense only occasionally found its form.

Still, the Ravens had a chance when Jackson found Isaiah Likely for a 28-yard gain on fourth down from midfield. A couple of snaps later, the 24-year-old Loop walked on to try to lift Baltimore to its third straight division title.

Instead, the rookie said he “mishit” it. Whatever it was, it never threatened to sneak between the goalposts.

“It’s disappointing,” Loop said.

Loop was talking about the game. He might as well have been talking about his team's season.

The Ravens began 1-5 as Jackson dealt with injuries and the defense struggled to get stops. Baltimore found a way to briefly tie the Steelers for first in late November, only to then split its next four games, including a home loss to Pittsburgh.

Still, when Jackson and the Ravens walked onto the Acrisure Stadium turf on Sunday night in the 272nd and final game of the NFL regular season, Baltimore was confident. The Ravens drilled Pittsburgh in the opening round of the playoffs a year ago behind the ever-churning legs of running back Derrick Henry.

When Henry ripped off a gain of 40-plus yards on the game's first offensive snap, it looked like it was going to be more of the same. While Henry did rush for 126 yards and joined Hall of Famer Barry Sanders as the only running backs in NFL history to have five 1,500-yard seasons, he was less effective in the second half.

Even that first run was telling of what night it was going to be, as an illegal block by wide receiver Zay Flowers cost Baltimore some field position. The Ravens ended up scoring on the drive anyway, thanks to a 38-yard fourth-down flip from Jackson to a wide-open Devontez Walker, but it started a pattern that was hard to shake as several steps forward were met with one step back on a night the Ravens finished with nine penalties for 78 yards.

“We were having a lot of penalties, which kept stopping drives," Jackson said. “But I'm proud of my guys because we kept overcoming. We kept overcoming adversity and situations like this. Divisional games (can) be like that sometimes.”

Particularly when the Steelers are on the other side of the line of scrimmage. Pittsburgh has won 10 of the last 13 meetings. And while a handful of them have been in late-season matchups with the Ravens already assured of reaching the playoffs, the reality is the Steelers have been able to regularly do something that most others have not: found a way to beat Jackson.

“It comes down to situations like this,” Jackson said. “Two-point conversion one year. Field goal another year. And again this year. Just got to find a way to get that win here.”

And figure out who is going to be around to help get it.

Head coach John Harbaugh's 18th season in Baltimore ended with the Ravens missing the playoffs for just the second time in eight years. Jackson turns 29 this week and is still one of the most electric players in the league.

Yet Harbaugh and Jackson have yet to find a way to have that breakthrough season that Harbaugh enjoyed with Joe Flacco in 2013 when the Ravens won the Super Bowl.

There was hope when the season began that the roadblocks that have long been in the franchise's way — Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes chief among them — would be gone.

While the Ravens did get their way in a sense — the Chiefs will watch the playoffs from afar for the first time in a decade after a nightmarish season of their own — it never all came together.

Jackson declined to endorse Harbaugh returning for a 19th season, saying the loss was still too fresh to zoom out on what it might mean for the franchise going forward.

Harbaugh, for his part, certainly seems up for running it back in the fall.

“I love these guys,” he said afterward. “I love these guys.”

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Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson, right, hands the ball off to running back Derrick Henry (22) during the first half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh talks with an offical during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Justin Berl)

Pittsburgh Steelers defensive tackle Cameron Heyward, left, greets Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) after an NFL football game Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Steelers safety Jabrill Peppers (40) reacts after Baltimore Ravens kicker Tyler Loop (33) missed a field goal attempt in the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)